Archive for January, 2008

Yogi is an 8-month-old baby, well, I don’t know if one would call an 8-month-old cat baby, but to me he’s a baby. He’s big, much bigger than I originally anticipated. He has a full-grown size. I don’t know if he will continue to grow, if so, he is going to be a giant. I just hope that Sasha and Yogi will get along. Oh I can’t wait to hold him! 2 more days!

I stopped by the pet store, which also houses a small cat room for the rescue center, earlier today to pick up some new bowls and stuff. I couldn’t help but took a peek at the cat room, thinking that, oh heck, he might be there. And there he was! Yogi was sitting on a cage at my eye level, he saw me, and he wouldn’t take his eyes off me. He just stared and stared. I think he knows, I really do. That’s my boy!

When our friend’s cat Fraidy passed away a couple of weeks ago, I was really upset by it. Now come to think of it, it has accelerated my idea of getting a new cat for the home. We have been thinking about getting Sasha a new companion for some time now, and we have looked at cats here and there. But the sad news about Fraidy has somehow turned on the activate mode.

When I saw Yogi on the website I was drawn to it and I said, “that’s the one.” When I got to meet him over the weekend I bonded with him even more. He is the one. Now come to think of it, it kinda gives me the creeps…

1. I really wanted an orange cat, not brown, not black: Fraidy was orange.

2. Yogi’s name starts with a “y”, Fraidy’s end with a “y”… I feel that Fraidy’s going to live on in Yogi. Fraidy-Yogi…

And I just got reminded that Skippy’s name ends with a “y” too… he was another orange cat who passed away years ago. I missed Skippy so much, and I was really sad about his passing away…

Coincidence?

Am I just reading too much into it? Or just a mere justification?

Oh screw it, who cares. I just want to give myself more reasons to love this new boy!

We are going to have a new family member arriving our home later this week!

I saw Yogi first on the adoption website, and I met him yesterday at the adoption event. He was a little scared, he hid under the cabinets. But when I picked him up and cradled him in my arms, he was a total sweetie. He was calm and soft. Man, I love this boy in an instant.

This was what I read about Yogi that made me want to take him home right away:

This cute little dude was going to be killed at the animal shelter for a broken leg, so he was pulled from the euthanasia list by our rescue. When he got to the vet, he began frolicking around happily. Nothing was wrong with him! The little actor really pulled one over on all of us. He loves to play and he loves to hide, but he also appreciates a good scratch behind the ears and will curl up in your lap for a night of couch-potato bliss. Like many vans, he’s fascinated by water, which is why there are so many pictures of him in the bathroom!

I don’t think I am going to change his name. He does have a face like Yogi Bear. But perhaps I will give him a Chinese name.

What could be the worst nightmare? Being killed? Dying? Ghosts? I had a really scary one last night that could probably be good materials for a psychodrama.

First of all, it was meta. I was dreaming that I was having a nightmare, in other words, I was sleeping and having a nightmare in the dream.

The gist of the nightmare’s nightmare is that all episodes of childhood nightmares were being unzipped (that’s the analogy I used in it) and were playing out in my dream one by one (it’s really dreaming about them). So, my childhood nightmares were repeating one by one. There were a ton of them but now I hardly recall any. Well, they were supposed to be hidden and archived.

There is no proof for me to believe that they were real nightmares that I had when I was a kid. But in my dream, I am convinced that they are real: I believe that somehow, I have unleashed the deep hidden traumas and I was experiencing them one by one. It was just freaky.

In the dream, I began to make connections as to why I had those hidden nightmares and thought somehow they got unleashed and unzipped to tell me something; it was trying to help me to realize and learn about my childhood.

My mind probably does it for that reason, but I really have no clue.

At the end, I moaned (know how you can’t really scream in your dream, but really moan?) for help in the dream, and it leads to waking myself up in the dream, moaning, for real.

I can barely get the tenses right while writing this, it’s just bizarre and freaky.

On Saturday evening our friends’ cat Fraidy passed away peacefully in her owners’ arms. Fraidy lived her 21 years of full and happy life in a loving family. She had had multiple hospitalizations, diabetes and kidney failure in her last few years of life. But she survived, she’s a real trooper and lived strongly. While she was fightly she would still give love and care to her trusted owners.

I have met Fraidy over the years and I felt that I have always connected with her. Everytime when I stoked her frailed and bony body, it hurted me to feel the pain she must have been in, but yet, I loved her even more for her strength.

Finally Zyrtec, which has been available over the counter in Canada for years, is becoming available OTC here in the US. Good thing? Bad thing? In short, good for the insurance companies, bad for me who is a subscriber.

For years, it’s rather a pain to get my Zyrtec covered, because all of my drug plans require a pre-certification for Zyrtec. It’s not that big of a deal considering that my doctor’s office is always responsive and helpful.

Granted, I won’t have to get a prescription filled or refilled anymore, but I will be undoubtedly paying more each month for my allergy medication. Under various drug plans, co-pay of a month’s worth of Zyrtec costs between $5 to $35. OTC Zyrtec will cost about $22. I am paying $5 for my prescription right now, which means I will have to pay $17 more each month.

For insurance companies, they currently pay around $170 for each of my 30-day supply, and they will be saving that forever for sure.

I have no doubt that the uninsured will be more accessible to this drug, but the truth is, who is it really benefiting here at the end of the day?